Diplomacy
by Smauglette
Summary: When Jim and Spock are appointed to secure a treaty with a race that values teamwork above all else, it seems a lost cause. The command and personal dynamic between them has degraded so much that it seems irreparable, but as it becomes ever clearer that the race is far more sinister than they realised, they'll have to work together to come out of it unscathed. Slow-build Spirk. R
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE

* * *

_"Kirk, we get one shot at this. One chance. Your career is hanging by a thread and by some miracle I've managed to convince them that you can pull this off. You need to get that treaty, if you don't they're talking of stripping you of command and letting Spock take captaincy of the Enterprise instead. Make it work."_

Jim pinched the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes and leant back against the wall behind his bed as the message Admiral Gunn had sent him a week ago reverberated inside his head.

The Federation wanted to expand its export range to Gentidas 7, a bustling trade planet where many species went to exchange goods and information. Unfortunately, the current route from Earth to Gentidas 7 took about a month and a half, as they had to take a detour to avoid violating the space of the Perioikoi, a close-knit race with a vibrant culture, but very strict rules about outsiders. They placed huge value on teamwork and any organisation that had command teams that were less than perfect did not deserve their notice or cooperation.

Jim let out a dark chuckle; he and Spock were about as far from a perfect command team as it was possible to get. Conflicting opinions, angry fights and mutual dislike flooded the bridge almost every time they had a shift together. Jim swallowed as he remembered that the reason the Federation had been denied a treaty last time; the command team had not interacted 'naturally' over a formal dinner.

Wait till they saw the screaming matches that would occur when Jim and Spock sat down.

Well, when one said screaming matches it was more like Jim screaming at Spock and the Vulcan responding with harsh jibes that had just as much impact, even though they lacked the same volume. The thing was, Jim had no clue of /why/ the situation between them had gotten so bad in the first place. They'd been going fine, even working out a system of light-hearted banter and Jim would like to think that they had been on their way to becoming friends, then the whole debacle with John Harrison, or 'Khan', had blown up and everything had gone to hell.

In fact, when Jim thought about it, everything had gone so badly wrong that he'd ended up /dying/. It made him feel oddly shaken whenever he remembered that he'd died - as in Bones calling time and declaring that he no longer lived - and that he'd done it all to save Spock and the crew of the Enterprise.

It was odd, Jim mused, that in his mind, Spock was separate from the rest of the crew in some way.

Jim hadn't known what had happened after his entry to the warp core, possibly because he'd been sort of dead, but apparently Spock had become a tornado of maniac energy and had been suicidal enough to try and kill the most dangerously genetically-engineered man the Earth had seen in the last century. Then, back on the Enterprise, Bones had worked his medical magic and realised that Khan's blood might help save him, the only problem was that it was inside Khan and that Spock was intent on destroying him. Nyota had beamed down, into the middle of the battle between the two crazed men and managed to convince Spock not to kill him, Jim had no clue how the hell she'd done that because from the accounts he'd heard from other crewmembers Spock had been 'unhinged' at best, most agreed he'd been closer to 'completely psychotic' and absolutely no-one had said he'd been even close to touching the rational side of sanity.

Either way, the job was done. Jim came back to life, Khan was locked away forever and the Enterprise sailed happily off into the comforting blackness of space.

Except their troubles hadn't ended there, Jim had been constantly monitored by a full squad of elite Starfleet agents. While Khan's blood had saved Jim's life, the Federation and Starfleet seemed to believe that it was going to have a negative effect on him. And by negative they meant that Jim might turn overnight into an insane fanatic with super strength and a penchant for bombing Starfleet installations. It had been eight weeks ago that they'd finally called off the guards after a month of intense scrutiny, seemingly satisfied that Jim's only other side effect was slightly increased muscle mass, but that had only been because he'd been hitting the on-board gym more often.

Not only had Jim's pride taken a hit from the squad of stern faced men and women that follows him everywhere but so had his social life. He hadn't had much of one to begin with but with Starfleet lackeys looking over his shoulder and psychoanalysing every word that came out of his mouth whenever he spoke to someone, he'd become quieter and quieter and eventually stopped talking unless he strictly had to.

The only people he'd been comfortable enough to really talk to had been Bones and Spock. But two weeks after the introduction of the 'Kirk-Bomb Squad' as Bones had dubbed them, something happened that seemed to destroy every little moment of friendship and civility that had ever passed between Spock and Jim.

Nyota broke up with Spock.

It had come as a bit of a shock, but looking back on their relationship Jim privately thought that it had done a good job to last as long as it had. Some people said that it was a natural progression, that they'd just been too different to make it work, other insisted that it was because Nyota had been scared by seeing the primal state that Spock had slipped into and yet another group claimed that Nyota had found out about Spock's 'secret lover' or some other nonsensical garbage.

Jim didn't think it had been any of these things but as he had no clue to what had actually happened between them, he tried to reserve judgement and gave Spock and Nyota two days off shifts to recover. A courtesy that he extended to all his crewmembers who went through a breakup.

To his intense astonishment Spock took the two days off work and Nyota declined, saying that she'd feel better if she was working, a complete reversal of what he'd thought would happen. Spock did not emerge from his quarters for two days and when he did it was like being thrown back to their first day on the Enterprise, when Spock and Jim had literally been at each others throats. Anything Jim said would be shot down by a snide remark from Spock and arguments between them began to break out on the bridge like small but deadly wildfires.

He'd tried to understand, he really had. Jim had made every excuse possible for Spock's behaviour, 'he's been through a bad break up', 'the destruction of his planet is catching up to him again' and 'Khan rattled him more than he let on'. And so Jim had tried to ignore the comments, keep his temper in check and his side of the argument light-hearted and positive. More than anything he'd tried to keep _liking_ Spock, but it was incredibly difficult when he seemed to be getting nothing but disrespect from his first officer.

Which led them to where they were now, a few hours away from the planet of the teamwork obsessed Perioikoi and so deep in apparent dislike it felt like they were drowning.

In the cool darkness of his bedroom James Kirk buried his head in his hands as he felt a fresh wave of despair crash over him. Despite everything Spock had said and done and everything Jim had said and done back, Jim still couldn't bring himself to hate Spock. Couldn't bring himself to write the Vulcan off as another failed connection in the seemingly endless string that littered his life. He knew it was tearing him and the Enterprise apart, but he still couldn't bring himself to request Spock be transferred to another ship.

Jim let his head thunk back against the wall and as his eyes took in the stars glittering beyond the window he wondered - not for the first time - whether it would have been easier for him just to stay dead.

* * *

Okay so this prologue sounded super angsty but I swear that the story picks up from here. All reviews go to feeding my imaginary hamster called Steve and all flames will be used to warm my shivering family when winter closes in.

Oh, and Perioikoi means 'those who live around' and I sort of Classical History nerded out. Don't judge me. Okay. Fine. You can judge me, but only this once :)


	2. 1 Arrivals & Wishes

CHAPTER ONE - Arrivals and Wishes

* * *

As the golden glow of the transporter faded, Jim blinked a couple of times to clear his vision of spots and then looked around the spacious meeting room that they had materialised in. Three of the four walls were floor-to-ceiling length glass panes, meaning that the room was filled with the rich yellow of the Perioikoi sunlight and they could see out over the rolling hills of thick green moss that was apparently the Periokoi's version of grass.

Tearing his awestruck gaze away from the natural beauty outside, Jim focused on the two male Perioikoi in front of them. Like most species that had managed to survive and come out on top on their respective planets they had a basic body structure remarkably similar to humans. Of course, as with every race, they were very different at the same time, both were completely covered in sleek fur that reminded Jim slightly of the cat he'd had as a child. The shorter Perioikoi was the Ambassador and had russet fur and brown eyes with pupils ringed in startlingly vibrant gold. The taller man standing beside him was the Second Ambassador and he had dark brown fur with black laced all through it, but this time the eyes were a chaotic rainbow of green, red, gold and blue with the black of the pupil ringed in white..

The Ambassador stepped forward smoothly, "Captain Kirk, First Officer Spock. It is our pleasure."

Jim grinned, blue eyes sparkling and white teeth flashing, the perfect picture of contentment and ease, "Thank you Ambassador Petrac and Second Ambassador Ryel, it is a great honour to be accepted on your planet."

Spock respectfully inclined his head, remaining a few steps behind and to the right of Jim at all times.

Ambassador Petrac nodded back and his partner, the Second Ambassador Ryel, a younger, bouncier Perioikoi, smiled in a way that almost rivalled Jim's legendary grin.

"So, we have a guest house set up for you two. They're in the Garden of Co-operation and Leadership." Ryel beamed, "We hope that they are suitable."

Jim suppressed a laugh as he noticed that Petrac had raised an eyebrow in a very Spock-like manner at Ryel's informal bombshell of 'you two'.

"That is most kind of you, I am sure we will be most comfortable." Spock replied, the very image of Vulcan logic and restraint.

Jim rolled his eyes before he even realised what he was doing and then guiltily snuck a glance at the two ambassadors to see if either of them had noticed it. Ryel was looking right at him, bizarre eyes twinkling with amusement and Jim gave a sheepish grin in return.

"We will commence negotiations tomorrow. Today you have a settlement day, we know that partnerships can come under strain by being in a new environment and so we have devised the system of having a day of grace to get used to your new surroundings."

_Our partnership would still be under strain if we had a year to 'work things out' between us._ Jim thought privately and then switched his attention back to responding to the ambassadors in front of him.

"Great!" Jim exclaimed, exactly as Spock said, "Fascinating."

Petrac and Ryel exchanged an unreadable look and Jim took an instinctive step backwards, his back hit Spock's chest and he froze, not knowing whether to turn around and apologise or let it go and make it look like they were merely 'communicating' and being a 'good' command team.

Spock stiffened under the contact and Jim let out a silent curse as he silently begged Spock to relax, make it look natural and not like he was revolted by Jim's very presence in the universe.

"This way." Petrac turned and walked out of the room through the spacious doorway that was an odd, seemingly randomly shaped hole in the far wall. Ryel gave another bright smile, flashing large, sharp teeth and followed Petrac closely.

Jim stepped hastily away from Spock and hissed a quiet apology. Spock regarded Jim for a second and then inclined his head slightly, before gesturing at the doorway, "After you, Captain."

"Thank you, most trusted and eminent chum." Jim said, faking a posh English accent under his breath. For a second he almost thought he saw a flicker of amusement dance in Spock's eyes before it was repressed and he gave Jim a stony glare.

"Captain?" Petrac's voice came through the doorway, "Is there a problem?"

"Not at all." Jim called back, plastering his 'the-devil-may-care' smile on his face, "Just admiring the scenery out the window. Remind me again Ambassador, how your people managed to preserve your planet so well? I know that in the 20th and through the entire 21th century on Earth my people nearly destroyed their atmosphere. Yet here there seems to be a perfect balance between technology and nature, something I fear that my race has not managed to achieve even now."

Spock nodded approvingly beside him and for one bizarre moment Jim imagined he heard Spock's voice saying, "And that is why you are the Captain. You think quickly and your normal casualness of manner conceals your intelligence and eloquence." But Spock's lips didn't move and Jim shook his head slightly. Wishful thinking. Perhaps Spock's older counterpart had said something alone those lines last time they talked.

They were led through a serious of rooms, all with oddly shaped doorways, until they emerged into a light and airy space with green circles drawn in a seemingly random pattern on the floor.

"Please stand within a circle. This is the Perioikoi version of a transporter, it will take you to your lodgings. We shall see you in the morning."

"I...what?" Jim blurted out before he could stop himself and then began shouting every swear word he knew in his head, "I mean, we're going directly there, without your guidance?"

Petrac smiled slightly, "Yes."

"We should be delighted Ambassador, your trust does us honour." Spock inclined his head and walked briskly to a circle, clearly waiting for Jim to do the same.

Jim gave a tight smile and moved over to stand next to Spock, he noticed that the Vulcan was standing in a posture that would make it very easy to get at the phaser in his belt if necessary, but at the same time managed to look relaxed and trusting. Jim tried to copy the stance but he probably ended up looking as if he had stomach cramps instead.

Either way Petrac and Ryel seemed satisfied and they smiled in sync as they stepped back. Jim briefly wondered where the heck the controls were and then his question was answered as Petrac turned and placed his palm flat against the wall. Green ripples spread out across the surface until the previously pristine white surface was completely covered in a dark green finish. Jim couldn't see exactly what Petrac was doing as his body blocked his hands but whatever it was made more green ripples splash across the surface, all of different shades.

Then his vision was obscured by what looked like aqua coloured fairy sparkles on steroids. Jim tried to remain calm but all he could think was '/It's a trap. It's a trap./' next thing he knew blinding white light poured around him, engulfing him within its glowing brilliance. He cried out, trying to close his eyes but something held them open and Jim realised that he was trapped, completely immobile with just his mouth able to move. He screamed and screamed but no one came to his rescue, then, with a sound that sounded like the whoomph of flames catching hold, the blue sparks burst into being once again. Mere seconds later they cleared once again and Jim pitched forward, still screaming at the top of his lungs.

Something thudded against him and Jim fought and kicked to get away from it, but something else encircled his waist and prevented his suddenly useless legs from buckling beneath him. Jim's mouth snapped shut as he realised that his face was pressed into the blue fabric of someone's shirt and that the force holding him up was a pair of arms.

"Captain?"

Jim stiffened and very slowly he turned his face upwards until his blue eyes were met by a chocolate-coloured pair staring at him in alarm.

"Fucking hell!" Jim shoved away and promptly fell to the ground in the most undignified manoeuvre he'd managed since he'd fallen downstairs drunk as a cadet and taken out about a dozen innocent stair-climbers.

"Captain!" Spock's voice went up a notch in volume, "Are you alright?"

"What? N-Yes? Where?" Jim scanned his surroundings so fast he nearly got whiplash. He was sitting in a large airy room, carpeted with thick moss, vines and wallflowers twined up the sides of the room and the sky was clearly visible through a transparent aluminium roof. A large Starfleet-issue bed was rather out of place and conspicuous in a corner shadowed with beautiful branches and flowers.

Spock straightened up slightly as he realised Jim wasn't in any immediate danger of losing it completely, "I'm assuming our living quarters, Captain. What was the matter?"

"Uh." Jim said awkwardly, "Just...transporters were different that's all."

Spock raised a sceptical eyebrow, "I see."

Much to Jim's relief however he didn't push the issue, instead he leaned down and offered Jim a hand up. Jim nodded gratefully, careful to clasp Spock's wrist and not his fingers. Despite what the rumour mill had to say, Jim was very well versed in alien cultures and living with Spock had taught him that unless he wanted to make Spock feel awkward Jim shouldn't touch his hands.

"Thanks." Jim said and looked around again, "These guys are really going with the whole green look aren't they? How many things have we seen that are covered with...green-ness?"

"Green-ness is not a recognised word within the English language, Captain."

"We aren't about to fight this soon after arriving here."

"I do not incite arguments, you merely tend to read too far into certain matters."

Jim scoffed, "So I'm at fault here?"

"I did not say that."

"You implied it,"

Spock didn't respond and turned away, looking contemptuous.

"You're acting like a toddler." Jim said rolling his eyes, "Quit it."

Spock's eyes flashed, "At least I'm not avoiding the real issue here."

"Was that snark I hear, Mr Spock? Doesn't snark count as emotion?" Jim taunted and then paused, "Wait, what issue?"

"The bed, Captain."

Jim peered at the bed, surrounded by fragrant flowers and leafy boughs, "Looks okay to me, a bit twiggy but they can be brushed off."

Spock looked at Jim as though he was almost unable to comprehend the depth of his stupidity, "Anything else you're noticing, Captain? The number of beds in the room, perhaps?"

"Okay, that was definitely sass," Jim grumbled, "and nothing you can say will change that."

"Does this not bother you?" Spock said snappishly, "No, I suppose it doesn't, since you have no sense of personal space whatsoever."

"Oh for...Spock are you missing the floor here?" Jim said, taking his turn to look as though he thought the Vulcan was clinically insane as Spock just looked blankly at him.

Jim sighed and began talking insultingly slowly and clearly, "The floor. Nice big thing underneath us that happens to be _covered in very thick moss so that someone could comfortably sleep on it if the need arose._"

There was a long silence.

Finally Spock inclined his head slightly, "A logical solution. We shall take turns alternating each night."

Jim did an internal victory dance with the triumph of Spock _agreeing_ with him but remained nonchalant on the outside, "Sounds good, I'll take the floor first."

"Very well." Spock crossed the room and knelt, "Our cases are under the bed, they must have transported them here when they were sent down before us."

"Good. Great." Jim murmured distractedly as he walked towards the fountain surrounded by the small pool. He looked over the edge and saw that it was only about two feet down to the bottom. A mad urge to throw an old-style Earth coin into the fountain overtook him and he gave a grim smile as he knew what he'd wish for. No more childish hopes for a bike or to beat Billy in the 100 metre sprint at Little Athletics, this time a prayer for an inter-racial treaty that could destroy his career if no deal was struck.

Jim felt his hands clench, he'd only wished for a bike once. The other times he'd chucked coins into a fountain it had been scared supplications for his mother to look at him, to protect him or for Frank to stop hitting him. Jim smiled with an odd feeling of pride that perhaps his wishes hadn't been superficial even as a child, but the smile was quickly wiped from his face as he realised just how much he wanted his childhood wishes to have been unburdened by fear, to have been a happy diversion from a happy life.

"Captain?"

Jim opened his eyes and jerked backwards as he saw dappled sunlight glancing off the water just millimetres away from his face. He had no memory of closing his eyes or making a conscious decision to lean over the pool. Shit, he needed to get a grip. That had been pathetically self-pitying and needlessly dramatic. What Jim needed was a very alcoholic drink and an unsympathetic Bones to bitch to.

"Yeah?"

Spock had a case out on the bed and Jim saw a change of clothes, neatly folded and stacked, balancing on a shelf made of interwoven branches above the bed.

"Hey, did you make that?" Jim asked, he swore that shelf had not been there before.

Spock gave a curt nod, "It was logical. We had no place to store our clothing other than our cases. You have made previous remarks upon the the vexing nature of opening and finding garments inside suitcases while it is dark. I hope this is sufficient."

Jim felt a real smile leap to his face, "Thanks, I'll put my clothes up next to yours before I go to bed."

There was a short, slightly confused silence, as though neither of them knew quite what to do next. At last Spock broke it.  
"If you do not object to me asking, what were you doing as you looked into the pool? You were standing over it for 28 minutes and 54.2 seconds."

Jim looked up at the Perioikoi sun, already beginning to descend through the sky. "Just making a wish."

* * *

Wooo. Second chapter finally up (IT TOOK SO LONG I'M SORRY AND IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN). Sorry for any mistakes its un-beta'd so all blame falls to me. *runs away from terrifying grammar-rabid squad of angry reviewers*.

Lots of people asked for Spock's point of view in all this and I'm on the fence about whether to change a chapter earlier to his POV or wait until the planned chapter 6 or 7 that will be written from Spock's POV. Thoughts?

R&R, my lovelies and I shall reward you will an imaginary chocolate fountain...mmmmmmmm.


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